How shot selection changes as a player ages: Jason Kidd

Obviously as a player gets older, he has to change his game due to his decline in athleticism, which usually result in more jump shots and less drives to the rim. I was just curious about how exactly that changes, because nowadays when I watch the Knicks, almost all of Jason Kidd's shots seem like they're threes. And as for Tim Duncan, I see him floating out more and popping more than rolling after setting a pick.

In the 2000-2001 season Jason Kidd attempted 1,166 shots in the playoffs and regular season combined. 249 of those shots were threes(he made 73 of them, which is 29.3%). In 2010-2011 he attempted 757 shots. 506 of them were threes(He 176, which is 34.8%)

That's a drastic difference is shot selection. in 2001, 21.3% of his shots were three pointers, but in 2011 66.8% of his shots were threes. That means for every 10 shots he took in 10-11, he was shooting on average 4 more threes than he did in 2001. I just find it interesting how his loss in speed, a diminished first step, and handling the ball less has changed his game completely.

Also, in 00-01, 72.7% of his shots were jump shots, and that number shoots to 91.6 for 10-11.

Take a look at his shot charts from the two seasons, the variation is pretty interesting.

The common understanding is that Chris Bosh is taking more jumpshots than he did in Toronto. The truth is that he took a lot of jumpshots even in Toronto, but the difference is that in Toronto most of his Jumpshots came down low and off post fadeaways. In 2009-2010 22.3% of his shots were from 16 feet- three point line, but last season that number was 31%. But as in Toronto, he took more jumpshot from 10-15 feet, which make up the 9 percent. just thought that was interesting.

But one guys who's changed drastically is Pau Gasol, I'll show you his later, compared from last season to his rookie season.

basketball reference is really cool, I didnt know it had all the advanced stats, shot charts. It is really cool to see. Like you can see how different lineups perform and how much they have played together, there is so much on that site